Questions & Answers about Jeg liker å bo i en stor by.
Norwegian uses the infinitive after verbs like liker.
- å bo = to live (infinitive)
- bor = live / am living (present tense)
So after Jeg liker (I like), you must use the infinitive: Jeg liker å bo … (I like to live / I like living …), not Jeg liker bor ….
å is the infinitive marker, similar to English to in to live, to eat, to read.
In å bo, å doesn’t mean “to” in the sense of direction; it just shows that bo is in the infinitive form.
You use å + infinitive after many verbs of liking, wanting, starting, etc., such as:
- Jeg liker å lese. – I like to read.
- Jeg begynner å jobbe klokka åtte. – I start working at eight.
No. That’s incorrect.
You can have either:
- Infinitive: å bo
- Finite present tense: bor
You cannot combine them like å bor. After å, the verb must be in infinitive form: å bo.
Norwegian distinguishes between two kinds of “live”:
- å bo = to live somewhere / reside (have your home there)
- å leve = to be alive, or live in a certain way (lifestyle, quality of life)
So:
- Jeg liker å bo i en stor by. – I like living (residing) in a big city.
- Jeg liker å leve et enkelt liv. – I like to live a simple life. / I like living simply.
In this sentence, you’re talking about where you live, so å bo is the natural verb.
i usually means in / inside, and på usually means on / at, but which one you use is often idiomatic.
For cities, towns, countries, Norwegian normally uses i:
- i Oslo, i London, i en by, i Norge
So i en stor by is the standard way to say in a big city.
You would not say på en stor by here.
Because by (city/town) is a masculine noun in Norwegian.
Norwegian has three grammatical genders:
- en for masculine nouns (e.g., en by)
- ei for feminine nouns (in Bokmål often also en)
- et for neuter nouns
So you must say:
- en by – a city
not et by.
Therefore: i en stor by = in a big city.
Adjectives in Norwegian change form depending on gender and number of the noun:
Base form: stor
- Masculine singular indefinite: en stor by
- Feminine singular indefinite: ei stor bok (or en stor bok)
- Neuter singular indefinite: et stort hus
- All plural forms and all definite forms: store (e.g., de store byene)
Because by is masculine singular indefinite (en by), you use stor: en stor by.
You make both the noun and the adjective plural:
- Jeg liker å bo i store byer.
- store = plural form of stor
- byer = plural of by
So:
- i en stor by – in a big city (one)
- i store byer – in big cities (in general / more than one)
- en stor by = a big city (indefinite, not specified which)
- den store byen = the big city (definite, a particular city you both know about)
Forms:
- by – city (indefinite)
- byen – the city (definite)
- stor by – big city
- store byen → den store byen (you add den and use store for definite)
So you’d say:
- Jeg liker å bo i en stor by. – I like living in a big city (any big city).
- Jeg liker å bo i den store byen. – I like living in the big city (that specific one).
In normal Norwegian, you cannot drop the subject pronoun like that.
You should say: Jeg liker å bo i en stor by.
Leaving out Jeg would sound like a note heading, a slogan, or very informal shorthand (for example in a list), but not a complete, natural sentence in regular speech.
Ikke normally comes after the finite verb (liker).
So:
- Jeg liker ikke å bo i en stor by. – I don’t like living in a big city.
Word order:
- Jeg (subject)
- liker (finite verb)
- ikke (negation)
- å bo i en stor by (rest of the sentence / infinitive phrase)
Liker in the present tense usually expresses a general preference, not just a temporary feeling.
So Jeg liker å bo i en stor by is best understood as:
- I (generally) like living in a big city
rather than - I’m liking it right now.
If you want to emphasize a current, temporary situation, you’d normally add context, like:
- Akkurat nå liker jeg å bo i en stor by. – Right now, I like living in a big city.
Yes, but the intensity changes.
- Jeg liker å bo i en stor by. – I like living in a big city.
- Jeg elsker å bo i en stor by. – I love living in a big city. (much stronger)
Another common, slightly softer alternative is:
- Jeg er glad i å bo i en stor by. – I’m fond of living in a big city / I’m really into living in a big city.
Norwegian main clauses normally follow Subject – Verb – (Object / other elements) word order.
Here:
- Jeg – subject
- liker – verb
- å bo i en stor by – what you like (an infinitive phrase functioning like an object)
So the natural order is:
Jeg liker [å bo i en stor by].
You cannot split this randomly; Jeg å bo liker… is ungrammatical.
Very roughly, in a common Eastern Norwegian pronunciation, you might say it like this (written in “English-style” sounds):
- Jeg – like “yai” or “yay” (often closer to “yai”)
- liker – “LEE-ker” (first syllable stressed)
- å – long “oh” sound
- bo – “boo” (long)
- i – “ee” (long)
- en – “en” (often a bit reduced, like “en/uhn”)
- stor – “stoorr” (with a long “oo” like in “door”)
- by – “bee” with rounded lips (closer to French “u”: “bü”)
Spoken smoothly, it becomes something like:
“Yai LEE-ker oh boo ee en stoorr bü.”